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Sentiment analysis

What Japan Thinks

Each entry analyzes how Japanese audiences are reacting to a story or topic on social media — sentiments, themes, and the takes you won't get from English-language sources.

  1. What Japan Thinks: SoftBank’s “Infinite Contract Hell” Traps Users Who Can’t Cancel

    A viral thread exposed SoftBank Hikari's cancellation process: phone-only, reservations booked a week out, and no way to escape the contract. 366 replies poured in with personal horror stories, calls to flood the Consumer Affairs Agency with complaints,…

  2. What Japan Thinks: Hunter Wins Rifle Lawsuit, Prosecutor Destroys the Gun Anyway

    A hunter won a court ruling ordering the return of his confiscated rifle, only to learn the prosecution had already destroyed it. The 300-reply thread is a case study in public fury at prosecutorial impunity, with commenters demanding…

  3. What Japan Thinks: TV Pundit’s Antisemitic Remark on Live TV Draws Calls for Firing and Sponsor Boycotts

    TV Asahi commentator Tamagawa Toru told a live audience that Jared Kushner, "being Jewish," should be excluded from Iran negotiations. The remark went global, and Japanese social media responded with near-unanimous condemnation, calls to pressure sponsors, and demands…

  4. What Japan Thinks: Foreign Worker Visa Freeze Hits Restaurants, and Most Commenters Say Good

    When Nikkei reported that the government's freeze on new "Tokutei Gino" foreign worker visas was hammering the restaurant industry, Japanese social media responded not with concern but with approval. The overwhelming sentiment: if an industry can't survive without…

  5. What Japan Thinks: 300,000 Sign Petition Against Healthcare Burden Hikes as Medical Groups Blast Takaichi

    Japan's national federation of medical practitioners issued a scathing public letter to PM Takaichi, backed by over 300,000 petition signatures, protesting healthcare cost increases that critics say will force patients to forgo treatment. The thread exploded with 48,000…

  6. What Japan Thinks: 61% Support a Female Emperor, But the Government Won’t Listen

    A Mainichi Shimbun poll found that 61% of Japanese respondents support a female emperor, with only 9% opposed. But the replies did not celebrate the result. Instead, they erupted into a three-front war: critics attacking the poll itself,…

  7. What Japan Thinks: 61% Support a Female Emperor, But the Government Won’t Listen

    A Mainichi Shimbun poll found that 61% of Japanese respondents support a female emperor, with only 9% opposed. But the replies did not celebrate the result. Instead, they erupted into a three-front war: critics attacking the poll itself,…

  8. What Japan Thinks: “Don’t Let Someone Who Doesn’t Know the Law Serve as Defense Minister”

    When Kyodo News reported that a Ground Self-Defense Force sergeant performed the national anthem at the LDP's party convention, Japanese social media responded with near-unanimous outrage. Commenters cited the Self-Defense Forces Act by article number, questioned the Defense…

  9. What Japan Thinks: Odakyu Rolls Out Wearable Cameras at All 70 Stations to Fight Customer Harassment

    Odakyu Electric Railway announced wearable body cameras for station staff at all 70 of its stops, citing a rise in kasuhara incidents. Japan's internet broadly supports the move -- but the most-liked response wasn't about trains at all.…

  10. What Japan Thinks: 64% Say No to Constitutional Revision for SDF Hormuz Deployment

    A Kyodo News opinion poll released April 5, 2026 found that 64.4% of Japanese respondents oppose revising the constitution in order to deploy the Self-Defense Forces to the Strait of Hormuz. Japan's social media didn't celebrate the result.…

  11. What Japan Thinks: World Heritage Site Oshino Hakkai Befouled by Tourists’ Coins

    Foreign tourists are throwing coins into the sacred spring pools of Oshino Hakkai in Yamanashi Prefecture at an alarming rate -- roughly 18,000 coins were recovered by volunteer divers in 2025, four times the 2024 figure. When @livedoornews…

  12. What Japan Thinks: Social Media Dunks on Shibuya Scramble Nationalist Firestarter

    A man in his 50s set fire to Tokyo's Shibuya Scramble Crossing on the evening of April 3rd, then turned himself in and said he did it "to let the world know the current state of Japan." Japan's…